An oddly inspiring note from Norman Mailer: “A writer, no matter how great, is never altogether great; a small part of him is seriously flawed. A writer is recognized as great when his work is done, but while he is writing, he rarely feels great. As he writes he is reshaping his character. He is a better man and he is worse, once he has finished a book. He has made choices on his route and the choices have shaped him. By this understanding, a genius is a man of large talent who has made many good choices and a few outstanding ones. Yet no matter how large his genius, we can be certain of one thing—he could have been even greater.”